Women’s cycling: fiasco at the Tour of the Pyrenees, the 3rd stage boycotted then canceled for safety motives

Bad exposure or healthy choice for the destiny? Probably a chunk of each. The second edition of the Tour of the Pyrenees, a ladies’s race positioned just earlier than the Tour de France, ended prematurely this Sunday, earlier than the third and final stage. This cancellation follows a rebel from part of the peloton, indignant and concerned about their protection after  every so often chaotic days of racing. This defection illustrates the current demanding situations of women’s biking, which seeks to advantage visibility and develop economically, even as also transferring upmarket in terms of protection.

The stoppage of the Tour of the Pyrenees changed into introduced via the UCI this Sunday morning, simply before the begin. The case dates again to Friday. On several sectors of the race between Argelès and Lourdes, and in particular within the very last, the runners had to face a route strewn with cars in stream, in particular within the opposite path, or travelers on foot on the brink of the pavement in the coronary heart of a village. Some video excerpts might also seem striking compared to the guys’s circuit and the snap shots of closed roads. Forced to skip those cars at full speed, the sportswomen alerted the agency of the event.

If the second day went a bit higher, the peloton nevertheless chose to neutralize the race until the final ascent. Several racing motorcycles have interposed themselves dangerously between the riders, consistent with the specialized site Escape Collective. The French Audrey Cordon-Ragot took the ground in the middle of the level to give an explanation for the content of the discussions to the relaxation of the riders.

But while an emergency meeting become organized on Saturday nighttime, the vagueness nevertheless reigned whilst we awoke. Several teams then took the choice to leave the event with out looking forward to the decision of the authorities. In precise Bizkaia Durango, Israel-Premier Tech Roland, Canyon-SRAM, or the Jumbo-Visma: “What a pity that the race ends like this. Not an smooth selection. The scenario on the second day changed into drastically better than on the primary level, however safety is a situation as a way to practice the sport responsibly,” the Dutch outfit said on Twitter. A message shared with the aid of several formations.

🇫🇷#CICTourFeminin#TourPyrenees

What a pity that the race ends this manner. Not an clean decision. 😕

The situation on day  turned into drastically higher than at some point of the first level, however protection is a condition inside TJV with a view to exercise the game in a accountable way. 🚴🏼‍♀️

— Team Jumbo-Visma Women (@JumboVismaWomen) June eleven, 2023

 

An hour earlier, the runners’ union, the CPA Women, had additionally supported this sling. The protection issues have “generated vast panic within the peloton and induced a media hurricane which gives a terrible image of ladies’s competitions”. According to the structure, 17 groups wanted to stop, 7 wanted to preserve.

“We all have unique motivations and levels”

This battle highlights the complicated stability of energy in this surroundings. In the unique case of the Tour of the Pyrenees, the selection to leave the race become not unanimous. “It’s difficult to get everybody to agree because we all have one-of-a-kind motivations and stages on this race,” summarizes Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (AG Insurance), winner of the first level.

“It is very clean for WorldTour teams to depart. They enjoy exceptional protection, she keeps. In a race like this, from the 0.33 UCI 2.1 class, we've got exceptional objectives and one-of-a-kind teams. As long as there have been UCI points at stake, the teams that wanted to go to the WorldTour, or that were seeking to development or get sponsors, desired those factors”. The South African, for instance, desired to begin this Sunday but with the aid of neutralizing the race, this is to say with out everyone leaving the peloton and with out playing the sport.

The French Gabrielle Pilote (Cofidis) is one of the challengers. She relayed on Twitter the message of a local indicating that no statistics panel have been hooked up inside the rise of Hautacam, the final of Saturday, to warn the inhabitants. “When we say we are informed that they're doing the whole thing possible,” she commented paradoxically.

“The whims of spoiled youngsters”

On the facet of the organizers, anger prevails. “We’ve been struggling to expand the girls’s circuit for four years,” storms Elisabeth Chevanne-Brachet, co-director of the event. The UCI’s decision became to favor to listen ten athletes who reported the records to CPA Women, the athletes’ union, and asked to cancel the race”, shows the one who attempted to preserve the race below the manipulate of the French Cycling Federation, in useless. “The women don’t understand the visibility offered via TV broadcasting (La Chaine L’Equipe, GCN Eurosport) and the destiny of women’s cycling, where races are being canceled,” he stated. -she adds. She is questioning specifically of putting the Tour of Belgium on maintain this summer time, exactly for security reasons.

Pascal Baudron, every other race director, uses even cruder phrases. He denounces in our columns the “whims of spoiled youngsters” about the “fifteen Anglo-Saxons” on the beginning, in keeping with him, of this sling. “We had a security issue on Friday, we agree. It become screwed up. But yesterday the entirety became best. The hassle is that those young girls have requirements that aren't in line with their degree. They want 100% closed roads but it isn't possible. The gendarmerie does no longer have sufficient manpower. It handiest exists on the Tour de France and Paris-Roubaix. The UCI gave in for reasons unknown to me, while the president of the jury of commissaires licensed that the race ought to hold, ”he adds.

Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle, a former fantastic French runner, turned into the protection manager for this event. He too criticizes this boycott. “I knew the excessive level, I made moves but there, I suppose that they've to come back down from their tree. They are sawing off their own branch. »